DAVAO CITY (UCAN): Charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed against Pastor Jurie Jaime, two Catholic sisters and a group that gave assistance by providing accommodation to displaced tribal people in Mindanao last year, have been dropped.

“It is a vindication of our support for the legitimacy of the demands raised by the tribal people,” a lawyer, Carlos Isagani Zarate, a prominent human rights advocate and member of the Philippine congress, said.

MANILA (SE): An uncharacteristic hush has come over the normally garrulous Philippine bishops since the president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, launched a stinging attack on several of their members and the Church in general in mid-May.

The Mouth from the South referred to the bishops as sons of bitches and called the Church the most hypocritical of all institutions, as well as threatening to name those who have children or a few skeletons stored in their cupboards.

MANILA (UCAN): “You are not exempted from assassination if you are a son of a bitch,” president-elect, Roderigo Duterte, said on May 31 in response to a question from the media about a confrère murdered in Manila a few days previously.

The Philippines is already listed as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as the numbers killed over past years keeps it in the top 20 of the deadliest countries for those who pen the news.

Manila (SE): A diehard supporter of president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, is calling on people to support a petition to have Archbishop Socrates Villegas and his predecessor in Lingayen-Dagupan, Archbishop Oscar Cruz, fired.

An online petition signed by Lorbertson Borres Jr. was posted on change.org on May 26 and by 5.00pm on May 28 had garnered 8,394 signatures.

DAVAO CITY (SE): Despite the outlandish claim that he has rid Davao City of crime, the infamous death squads championed by the former mayor of the city and now president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, are back at work.

After a bit of a lull in proceedings, the men behind the guns have again been active, as the president’s men in the style of the death squads of the martial law president, Ferdinand Marcos, are reported to have eliminated three petty criminals in Davao during the days prior to May 27.

The greatest upset in Philippine presidential elections this past May 9 has been the phenomenal ninety-day campaign by the then little-known mayor of Davao City in Mindanao-—Rodrigo Duterte, a one term congress member but mayor for more than two decades. He rose to national prominence three months ago by being his own true self.

MANILA (Agencies): Caritas Philippines has called on the country’s next administration to urgently investigate funds donated towards the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) amounting to billions of pesos, left unused by the government of outgoing president, Noynoy Aquino.

MANILA (Agencies): “We are appealing to the newly-elected president to listen to the cries of the hungry farmers, especially here in Mindanao. They have already suffered enough from this climate crisis. Why let them wait for too long when money is readily available?” Father Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, said.